Abstract
Simple SummaryMilk from red deer is richer in fat and proteins than that of cow or other ruminants. The semi-captive breeding of this species has traditionally focused on meat, velvet or hunting purposes, but recent studies suggested that the high level of nutrients, the promising content of bioactive peptides and the better digestibility than that of milk from other species could open innovative alternatives for the dairy industry. As for other non-commercial mammalian species that are gaining technological interest for the elaboration of dairy products, it is necessary to understand the aptitude and performance of milk from red deer to be used for the production of cheese, fermented milks or other products. Our study aims to assess some chemical, physical, microbiological and technological properties of red deer milk during a lactation period of 18 weeks. The results show that milk from this species is similar to that of other ruminant species whose milk is commercialized. In addition, our results indicate the best period to industrialize the milk during lactation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the benefits of using red deer milk with a technological approach.This study describes chemical, physical, microbiological and technological characteristics of red deer milk and the effect of lactation on these parameters in order to know their potential aptitude to elaborate dairy products. During 18 weeks, milk from five hinds was monitored for composition, bacteriology, somatic cell count (SCC), physical properties and rennet coagulation. Mean values (g/100 g) for fat, protein, lactose and dry matter were 10.4, 7.1, 4.3 and 24.2, respectively, and for urea, 265 mg/100 mL. Except for lactose, a significant increase in these components was observed (p < 0.01) as lactation progressed. The average values for bacteriology and SCC were 5.3 log cfu/mL and 4.7 log cells/mL, respectively. Regarding physical properties, conductivity (mean: 2.8 ms/cm), viscosity (3.1 Cp), coordinates L* (89.9) and a* (−3.1) and milk fat globule diameter (D4,3: 6.1 µm) increased along with lactation while density (1.038 g/mL) decreased (p < 0.01). The pH (6.7), acidity (22.9° Dornic), coordinate b* (8.4) and ethanol stability (66.6% v/v) were stable during the study period. The stage of lactation also has a significant impact on milk coagulation properties and mean curd yield was 3.29 g/10 mL. These results suggest that red deer milk could be a potential innovative source of milk for the dairy industry.
Highlights
Knowledge of the properties of milk from non-commercial mammalian species has been traditionally approached more from the viewpoint of lactation biology or physiology than from a technological perspective [1]
The red deer fresh milk obtained from captive hinds showed to be a good nutritional source for the manufacturing of dairy products
The results here indicated that red deer milk had good microbiological quality and the physical properties made this milk comparable with sheep milk, with similar acidity, conductivity, density, viscosity and ethanol stability, which suggested a good aptitude for being used in the processing of dairy products similar to those made with sheep milk
Summary
Knowledge of the properties of milk from non-commercial mammalian species has been traditionally approached more from the viewpoint of lactation biology or physiology than from a technological perspective [1]. Apart from cow, buffalo, sheep, goat or camel milk, a marginal production of milk from other species, even some wild species, is described by Claeys et al [2] as potential dairy animals. Red deer (Cervus elaphus) has usually been farmed for meat, velvet or hunting purposes, but in recent years, the potential for developing dairy farms is increasing, and some references about the commercialization of red deer dairy products and cosmetics have been reported [6,7,8,9] Several countries such as New Zealand, Spain and even the USA have a high number of farms or deer parks either for meat or hunting (or both) in which the animals are raised in semi-captive conditions [10,11,12], making future breeding of deer with a dairy purpose more feasible. Cosmetic products that include this milk are already marketed by the pharmaceutical South Korean Yuhan Corporation under the “Deerest”
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